of garbage and sewage, and has made and is enforcing strict regulations governing contagious and infectious diseases.

The work accomplished by local boards even in the smaller towns of the State is sufficient to warrant the assertion that every town in the State should have a local board of health. Under the present law, the selectmen have the authority to appoint a local board of health, if none were elected at the annual townmeeting; and, upon petition of ten legal voters, they are obliged to appoint such a board. We would recommend the election or appointment of a local board in every town, and thus relieve the selectmen of the duties belonging to health officers. There are cases sometimes in which it is incompatible for men to act as selectmen and health officers. It has been urged that it is cheaper in small towns for the selectmen to act in both capacities; but this argument has no foundation, as both boards are paid for the services actually rendered, and the per diem charge of each would be the same. Again, a board of selectmen are not chosen with reference to their qualifications as health officers. A board of health should be selected for their special fitness for and knowledge of sanitary work, and at least one member should be a physician.

SANITARY CONVENTIONS.

The Board held its first sanitary convention in the city of Manchester in December last. The session continued through two days and two evenings, and was successful in all particulars. Papers upon several subjects pertaining to the public health were read and ably discussed; they will be found in this report in full or abridged. The newspapers of the city gave very full and complete reports of the meetings, thereby assisting in giving publicity to the wholesome truths that were brought out both in the papers and the discussions. The more extended the knowledge of sanitation, the greater will be the results for good. Public meetings in which these questions can be discussed must be productive of some good, in whatever community they are held. The value of sanitary conventions has been demonstrated in the States of Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Kansas, and elsewhere. They bring home to the minds of the people in the communities

where held facts and information that many would not acquire in any other way; besides, some topics of special local interest are usually considered, which makes the sessions doubly interesting and instructive. If the defects in the schoolhouses of the locality are to be considered, parents whose children invariably return from school with flushed faces and headaches will attend; if polluted wells are to be discussed, the man who has a suspicion that his cesspool, privy, or stable is slowly poisoning his water supply will be present, and many others who can see in such a meeting the possible means of furthering their interests, enlightening their minds, or being pleasantly and profitably entertained.

The Board received so much encouragement in its first sanitary convention that it is proposed to hold others- possibly severalin different parts of the State during the coming fall and winter.

NUISANCES BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE BOARD.

During the year many complaints against nuisances of one kind and another have been presented to the Board. In no instance has a complaint been ignored, excepting one or two which came anonymously through the mail. Some of the complaints came directly from individuals who had not even mentioned the case to their local board of health; these were transmitted to such boards with requests to investigate, accompanied with such other advice as seemed necessary. Other cases have been submitted to this Board for advice, instructions, etc. In a few instances a direct order has been issued to a local board to abate a certain nuisance. This has been done only in the case of an aggravated nuisance and immediate action was necessary, or when the facts were first and best known by this Board, and the step warranted by existing circumstances.

All complaints of whatever nature against actual or alleged nuisances should be made first to the local board of health, or health officer, except, perhaps, in cases relating to public grounds, institutions, etc., where the jurisdiction of the local board is not clearly defined or understood.

Local health authorities will at all times receive, upon applica

tion, any advice, instruction, or aid which is within the power of this Board to render.

ANONYMOUS COMPLAINTS

will receive no attention from the Board. This announcement is made because we have occasionally received such a complaint. The person who has not a sufficient amount of moral stamina to state facts without hiding his identity under a nom de plume will have to endure his grievance, so far as we are concerned, till he comes out from his cowardly hiding-place and reveals himself in a frank and manly way. The man who has an actual cause for complaint will secure its removal quicker, easier, and with less trouble to himself and his neighbors by a straightforward, open course that is above the taint of crookedness, cowardice, or any suspicion whatever.

CHARITABLE AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS.

Systematic reports upon the penal and charitable institutions of the State, with few exceptions, have been made in former reports of the Board, hence it does not seem necessary to go over the same ground again, as but few changes of note have been made during the year. A few institutions of this class have not been inspected since the last report was issued, but a general knowledge of such has been had from reliable sources. Improvements of more or less importance have been made in all the county almshouses since the Board commenced its system of inspections. It is not claimed that all these changes have been brought about through the efforts of this Board, but it is true that not a few of them have been. Our almshouses are, as a rule, in excellent condition. Most of them now avail themselves of the advice and experience of the Board in the construction of new buildings and the remodeling of old ones, as well as in other matters relating to the welfare and comfort of the inmates. All the counties in the State now furnish good homes for their needy and unfortunate poor, while the penal institutions, with the exception of one or two jails, are in good condition and ample for the purposes for which they were constructed.

POLLUTED DRINKING WATER.

Very much has been accomplished by the Board in its efforts to secure for the people a better quality of water for drinking purposes. The serious evils that have so frequently resulted from the use of bad water taken from wells receiving the drainage from buildings have been shown in the previous reports of the Board, and the evidence accumulates from year to year. During the past year water from many wells, embracing nearly all sections of the State, has been examined, and in a majority of cases found to be badly, in some cases horribly, polluted.

The work of the year not only corroborates the experience of the past, but adds additional evidence to the already thoroughly established facts. The ordinary shallow wells, such as exist in our small villages throughout the State, and at many individual homes outside the villages, are a source of danger to health and life,--a fact slightly or not at all understood by a majority of the people. Very much information upon this subject has been given to the public through the reports of this Board, but the dissemination of such knowledge ought to be made much more general. However, the agitation of the subject has already been sufficiently widespread to bring about many changes, corporate and individual. Public water supplies from sources of undoubted wholesomeness have been constructed in several of our larger towns, and more are contemplated. Delay has been occasioned in some instances because there is no general law under which towns or other corporations can secure the right of way to lay water-pipes where parties decline to grant it. Among the towns which have introduced public water supplies within a comparatively short time are:

Bristol. — Water from New Found Lake, three miles north, has been brought into the village during the past year; twenty or more families are supplied from it.

Colebrook. - Aqueduct water is supplied to fifty or more families from several springs high up on the mountain.

Conway. Conway Centre village is being supplied with water from a spring, due to the personal efforts of one of its

citizens. Only a few families have as yet received the water, as it was late in the fall before operations were commenced.

Epsom. Families in Gossville supplied with spring water, but

it is conducted through lead pipe.

Exeter. The town has been supplied with water during the past year, but it has not come into use yet.

Franklin Falls. Water is brought from a bluff south of Franklin Falls village; laid down late, but supplies some thirty families at present and abundant for many more.

Haverhill. We have a supply of spring water, which, in my judgment, has much to do with keeping our list of fever and kindred diseases so small.

Henniker. - About thirty-five families are supplied by Henniker Spring-Water Company; constructed in 1884.

Hillsborough Bridge. — The work of supplying the town with water has been commenced, but only the main pipe is down. The water is to be brought from Loon Pond, four miles away. The whole village, two or three hundred families, will probably be supplied in the spring.

Keene. We have increased our water supply by bringing water from Echo Lake in Roxbury, which is of better quality. Laconia. Lake Village and Laconia Water-works supply two hundred families.

Lake Village. The Laconia and Lake Village Water-works Company have put in a system of water supply, taking the water from Lake Winnipesaukee above both villages, greatly benefiting both with pure water and better fire protection.

Lisbon. Water supply from Pearl Pond; there are probably forty or forty-five families supplied with it at present.

Rochester.

- Water has been brought in from a pond, but only a few families have taken it as yet.

Somersworth. On the top of Prospect Hill in this village is a reservoir perhaps 100 feet in diameter and 10 or 12 feet deep, supplied with water by rain falling directly into it and by water forced into it from the river which drives the cotton mills, etc. Now water has been brought from this reservoir, in iron pipes, to several families during the past year, which, added to the previous number, would make some thirty in all; the water to be used for